What Do Site Selectors Look For When Searching Your Website?

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Economic Developers, you have it rough.

All day you have to sell a product that you don’t create and over which you sometimes have limited control.

Nonetheless, you ‘sell’ your community very well and do it all day long.

It’s hard work, but can very rewarding when we see people in our community working and achieving their dreams.

Your Website – What it means for you?

One of the most important tools that economic developers have one really powerful tool at their disposal: a powerful website.

24 hours a day – 7 days per week potential site locators and decision-makers are able to look at your website and you might not even know.

So what are they looking for?

• News• Blogs• Incentives and Site Selection Tools

NEWS

• Success breeds success! Do you have a press release section on your website that you update at least once per week? Do you write blogs about your area, even if it is just to tell about how the Little League team went to State? Do you scream from the mountain tops about every single business opportunity you create?

• It only a takes few minutes a week to show the world how dynamic and exciting your community is.

The NEWS rules:• Post at least every week, up to 3 times per week• Include news for site selectors, the general public and

residents alike• Be consistent! Better nothing than a really old press

release

BLOG

• A blog is a great place to talk about those items that aren’t quite news, but are still interesting to share with the world.

• This is the place to tell the world about your vibrant community, the activities of your economic development, even incentives, etc. as they are being worked on.

• This is great way to grow your Search Engine Optimization and get more notice from Google, Bing and Yahoo! Google won’t differentiate between “Anywhere, USA Council working on great incentives” and “Anywhere, USA Council passes great initiatives.”

The BLOG rules:

• Again, consistency. One a week is fine. Short daily posts are okay too

• Don’t worry about being too formal• Never a negative word; if a plan falls through, you don’t

mention it on your blog

INCENTIVES

• This is what most Economic Developers think of as ‘what site selectors want,’ and they are right. But delivery is everything.

• Don’t just copy the long and boring explanation that is on the official website.

Summarizing an incentive

Take a two page, ‘legalese’ discussion of an incentive and explain it simply.

“Businesses that commit to creating at least 50 new jobs over 5 years may receive up to $1,000 per year per position tax credit for

10 years. This is a great incentive for businesses that are labor intensive because there is no limit to the number of positions you can get a tax break on. Please contact us to learn more and see if

your business qualifies.”

Much easier, but still allows a site selector to crunch the numbers and make the math work for them.

Every site selector is familiar with incentives and many communities provide the same incentives. So how can you differentiate your community?1) Provide a complete response that can allow site

selectors to calculate if moving to your community is a good idea right away. Put the basic template on your website.

Contact bob@wedanet.com and we will send you a sample report.2) Make sure that your website makes it clear that you will

help clear Red Tape. Hassles are the Number One reason that companies will stop a move or walk away from a proposal.

Site Selector Toolbox

The following is an example of a website designed just for site selectors. Everything they need is right at their

fingertips. From incentives to taxes to climate, everything they might need is in one place.

• The beauty of this page is that it can simply be made to be a page off of the main EDC website or even off of the city website.

• How much interest can you generate by calling it “Site Selectors and Decision Makers Only!”?

In Summary

The simple key is just that… keep it simple. Don’t overload site selectors with too much information. Just make sure that what you share is directed to the questions you hear

on the phone every day.

Questions? Suggestions?Feel free to contact us at

World Economic Development Alliance (WEDA)800-632-9332 Ext 1eric@wedanet.com